at last, our promises
by PeppermintP4tty
Summary: Possible conversation between Emily and Paige after Hanna's sighting of Paige and Shana in the gay bar in PLL 3x17. First story.
1. Chapter 1

Emily sighs exasperatedly over her cup of coffee, hurt brown eyes looking over the top of the cup at her friend, "Hannah, do you _honestly_ believe Paige is seeing someone else?"

"Well, _no_, I – I don't know. I know the way she looks at you, I wouldn't have thought she could even _recognise_ another girl, never mind want to do anything about it. But..." Hanna hesitates, knowing the next point could possibly hurt her, "Em, she looked really _happy_."

Emily, quickly looks away. Something about that point sticks in her throat a little, but she's not about to discuss that here and now. She swallows down a sip of coffee.

"So?"

"So – what?"

Emily laughs and shakes her head. "For God's sake, what _is_ it with you guys and Paige? First she's A, then we're getting married—"

"No, all I said was you look like a wedding cake from outer space" Hannah mumbles.

"Now she's all over some new girl who works in the costume shop." Emily was starting to get frustrated. "Look, Han, _you_ think she's unfaithful? _You_ talk to her. _I_ trust her."

Emily puts down her empty coffee cup and slings her bag over her shoulder. "Just, get something sorted in your head, Han, 'cause I don't want any awkwardness between you." She glances at Hanna's face, tone softening a little "I get it, I get that you're concerned for me. I get that you want me to be happy. But honestly? Paige makes me happy. Really happy." As Emily turns to walk away, she thinks of something and smirks, "Hey, listen, maybe we should _both_ worry?"

"What? Why?"

"Well, Paige and Caleb have been spending an awful lot of time together. Secret phone calls, secret meetings.'

"Em, please, have you _seen_ us?" She indicates herself and Emily, "plus, _plus_, Paige is gay as the day – and don't you _dare_ say anything about Caleb's hair" she shouts as she sees the glint in Emily's eye. As Emily walks off, Hannah hurriedly grabs her things and runs after her. "Hey, Em, maybe I could get Caleb to find out?"

"Hannah, drop it" Emily's tone leaves little doubt that Hannah needs to drop this conversation now.

"No, all I mean, well aren't you a little _curious_ as to how Paige knows her?"

"Hannah!"

Emily drops her heavy school bag on the floor of Paige's bedroom as Paige turns from her desk, puts down her pen and smiles.

"Hey."

"Hey, um… you ok?" Paige gets up from her chair and slowly walks over to Emily. She presses her hands onto the front of Emily's plaid shirt, lightly holding the lapel of her collar and pulls her towards her, kissing her gently. Emily puts her arms round Paige's waist, hands pausing as her thumb finds a point where her top has risen slightly and she has access to warm skin, just above Paige's hip-bone. Paige jumps at the touch of her cold hand, breath lightly hitches in her throat at the touch of _Emily's_ hand and she smiles into the kiss a little more and presses a little harder. Eventually Paige breaks the kiss and rests her forehead on Emily's.

"Hi, how are you?" Emily whispers as she breathes out. She's got used to feeling so safe in Paige's arms that she's now angry that at the back of her mind, the question that Hannah made her ask has been placed there. That now, yes, she _does_ kind of want to know how Paige knows this new girl. _Does _want to know just how friendly Hannah saw them being, just how 'happy' Paige looked. And much as she trusts Paige, the damn question is there now and she doesn't know how to bring it up. So, she disentangles herself from Paige and moves over to her desk, pretending to look at her work.

"Government and Politics essay. How's it going?"

Paige looks at her curiously and dips her head, smirking slightly. Caleb called her a while back and she kind of wondered how Emily would be when she turned up. Now she knows, for all her defence of Paige, (which Caleb made sure that Paige knew) there's something not right in her interactions - a slight distance.

"Seriously, Em, you came round to ask about G & P and how my homework's going?"

"We are supposed to be studying."

"Yeah, and we know how that usually goes" Paige smiles at her and tilts her head to try and catch Emily's eyes which are all over everywhere in the room apart from on her. She moves closer to Emily again, catches the hand which is resting on top of Paige's books. "C'mon. Caleb called. What do you wanna ask me?"

Emily sighs, bites her top lip, eyes everywhere but Paige, ashamed that she even has to say anything and still angry with Hannah, for seeing, for sharing, for getting Caleb involved.

"Look, Paige, I didn't ask Hannah to say anything to Caleb."

"No, he said that – "

"I told her to drop it, Paige"

"I know, he –"

"I wish she hadn't said anything."

"Sure, but –"

"I'm so angry with her right now, I could –"

"Emily, shut up!" Paige interrupts with a squeeze of her hand and a smile. "God, and you say Spencer gets locked onto things." She shakes her head and tries to catch Emily's eyes, frowning slightly, "Why won't you look at me?"

Emily shuts her eyes, shakes her head, breathes out a frustrated sigh. She lets go of Paige's hand and heads over to the window,

"Because I'm annoyed, with Hannah, but mostly at myself."

Paige sucks back the words she was about to speak. "Wh- Why?"

"Because I told Hannah I trust you. And I _do_ trust you. And if you have other friends and know other people, that's fine. That should be fine. But this little voice has been going round and round in my head and it's driving me insane."

"What's the voice say, Em?"

"I don't know," Emily shrugs, "Just 'ask her, ask her, who is she? Why is she with someone else? Aren't I enough? Why would she want to see someone else? What if she is having an affair? What if she's bored of me?'"

"Woah, woah. Emily?" Paige is by Emily's side again, fingers in Emily's belt loops, smiling at her. She puts the fingers of her left hand to her brow to clear her mind and give herself a moment to speak. "Can we just have a conversation about this without going into melt-down? C'mon, sit down here." She pulls Emily to the bed and settles her down, taking one of Emily's hands into both her own, playing lightly with her fingers. Paige takes a breath. "Okay, her name is Shana" she begins.

"Oh my God" Emily pulls her hand away and stands up, not quite knowing where in the room to put herself.

"No, no, Em. It's not like that. Well… it _was_ like that" Paige sees Emily's face darken, "But not now…shit, shit I'm messing this up." Paige stammers, standing up and shoving her hands into her pockets. She takes a deep breath and something in her gives and she finds herself chuckling. Emily slowly turns and stares at her like she can't quite believe what is going on.

"What the hell?"

"No, Em, come on, you know I – I – how I feel about you." She grabs Emily's hands again, takes a deep breath, begins again. "In the summer - you were away – I'd been 'friend-zoned'", Emily sighs at that and goes to say something, Paige quickly carries on, "She moved here at the beginning of the summer. She works in that creepy costume shop. I used to bump into her when I was running or on my way to the coffee shop. A couple of times we'd be there at the same time and we'd pass the time of day, or whatever." Paige shrugs, "Anyway, turns out…" Paige doesn't quite know where to go from here, but she feels Emily stiffen in front of her and ploughs on, "So, we, um, well we, hooked up a couple of times." Paige can feel herself blushing.

"Hooked up? How many times are we talking, Paige? And, just for the record, _what_ are we talking? What does 'hooking up' actually mean?" Emily's surprised this has thrown her so much, surprised she's so upset. Some of the 'hooking up' her and Paige have been getting up to has become pretty intimate, and she finds that she hates the thought of anyone else's hands or worse, lips, on Paige.

"Um, well, I don't know, I guess we were together about three weeks or so?" Paige is torn between acute embarrassment, concern at how Emily is reacting and, in all honesty a little smugness at how Emily is reacting. "A-and, then, you came back from Haiti, and – you – came – to – visit – me" she hesitates whilst speaking the last few words, "And – so – I – ended it with Shana." Paige shrugged again.

Emily glances at Paige quickly. Realises that she could so easily have messed up a good thing for Paige in her own turmoil on a kiss she doesn't even remember. And another part of her heart goes out to Paige as she realises why Paige can't say how she feels about Emily, because Paige still thinks that there's a mis-step in where they are now. But Emily's spent since her lunch-time conversation with Hannah, wandering around Rosewood, thinking about how she's feeling, about how Paige makes her feel. About how losing Paige would make her feel. And she knows there isn't any disparity in how they feel about one another now. Knows where they are. Softens in her stance as she wants to make Paige aware, and doesn't want Paige to have to not say the thing she keeps sucking down anymore.

Emily moves towards Paige, who's been standing the last few seconds biting on the side of her thumb, watching Emily intently. Emily smiles and Paige lets go a long breath. Emily wraps her arms around Paige's neck pulls her close for a hug and kisses her lightly below her ear. She moves her lips closer to Paige's ear.

"Paige?" Paige shivers at the breath on her neck, at Emily's voice "I'm sorry. I guess I'm just jealous." She smiles at the slight scoffing noise Paige makes and pulls back slightly to look at her, moves her hands to rest on Paige's forearms, delighting in how strong, yet how soft they feel.

"Yeah, jealous? of me? C'mon Emily."

"Did you like her?"

Paige can't quite look at Emily now, she blushes, "Yeah, she's not you though" emboldened by saying the last few words Paige holds Emily's gaze "I – I"

"Love you."

"What?"

"I love you." Paige ducks her head, inwardly curses,

"Yeah, I _know._" Emily laughs,

"No, Paige, I'm not saying it _for_ you. Look at me. I'm saying it _to _you. I love you."

"What? Like, really?"

"Sometimes you really can be a dumb jock, like, you know?" Emily laughs again, looks in amazement at Paige's amazed face. Pulls her closer, "I. Love. You" each word punctuated with a kiss, means it more each time.

Paige slides her arms round Emily's neck, kisses her deeply, sighs into Emily's throat, kissing lightly at the dip she finds there. Pulls back again.

"I never thought – " she cuts herself off, smiling.

"What?"

"I don't know, I never thought you'd –" she stops again.

"Say it first? Paige, please. Trust me. I know it's taken us so long to get here, but I think it's made us stronger," she shrugs. "Sometimes things work out, even when _we're_ not looking."

Paige laces the fingers of one hand with Emily's. With the other she lightly catches the front of Emily's shirt, pulling her gently towards her. The kiss becomes more passionate as Emily slips her right hand under Paige's top, the left still entwined with Paige's.

"Paige?"

"Mmm?" she sighs into the kiss.

"In the context of Shana, what exactly _does_ hooking up mean?"


	2. Chapter 2

Emily's tired, it's the end of a long post-school shift at The Brew. It hasn't been the usual busy Friday afternoon and the manager's had time to gripe at her about everything. Plus, she's got stuff on her mind to do with Paige. Tonight is supposed to be a 'girl's night' but she really doesn't want to discuss what she's got on her mind with _all_ the girls – last time that happened – thanks to Hanna – disaster. So when Aria walks in with 20 minutes of her shift still to go and then another hour or so until they're supposed to meet up at Spencer's, she takes it as a sign.

Aria wanders over to the counter, catches sight of Emily and smiles a big, warm smile. Aria leans over the counter towards her,

"Hey, Em. Can I get a skinny latte?"

Emily turns to start making the drink, practiced now, so she can hold a conversation and complete a drinks order. She looks back over her shoulder at her friend,

"To go? Or?"

"No, stay in."

"Cool, um, Aria? Do you have to rush off?"

Aria takes a quick sip of her drink, hands the money to Emily and looks at her, a little concerned,

"No, I just wanted a coffee before we go to Spencer's. You ok?"

"Yeah, I just wondered, look, my shift ends in about 20 minutes. Can you hang around till then?"

Aria taps the book she's holding and nods,

"Sure, I can hold on." Smiling as Emily's attention is taken by her manager, Aria heads over to one of the booths at the back of the café.

Twenty minutes later and Emily's there, pulling off her apron, sighing and shaking out her hair, clutching a cup, she sits down on the sofa next to Aria.

"Rough shift?"

"You could say," Emily chuckles, "oh nothing bad, you know. Just quiet really, more boring than anything." She waits a beat, takes a sip of coffee, "Aria? Um, can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

Emily isn't sure how to begin, isn't quite sure what she wants to say. Sometimes, with some things, Hanna's bumbling in makes things easier. Aria is looking at her with such focus it's making her nervous.

"Um, it's about Paige."

"Is everything ok?" Aria sounds genuinely concerned and Emily breaths out a sigh in relief. She's still not totally sure how the girls are with Paige – except Hanna, and even she was thrown off by seeing Paige with Shana.

"Yeah, no, things are cool. Great. Really." Emily looks away, "it's just," she laughs self-deprecatingly and shakes her head, "um, I'm not sure how to. … I really want to talk to her, about, _us_."

Aria makes a confused face, but waits for Emily to continue.

"What about, Em? Talk about _what_?"

"Well," Emily blushes slightly, dipping her head so her hair falls partially over her face to cover her embarrassment, "_you know_, about, _taking things further_."

Aria suddenly gets it and smiles at Emily,

"Oh!" Aria waits a beat, "Ok, I kind of thought that maybe you already had? You seem so, _close_, I'm kind of surprised." Emily looks away and huffs. "Why? Is it a problem?"

Emily scrunches up her face and shrugs,

"Kind of, but only cause I don't know, if, if,"

"If, Paige?" Aria leaves the obvious question hanging.

"Yeah, but the worse thing is, if she has or not, you know, I kind of want to know? If she has, with Shana?" Aria nods, "she said her and Shana had 'hooked up' but wouldn't tell me what that meant. And Shana spoke to me the other day—"

"Shana spoke to you? About what?"

"Well, you know, she just said some things about her and Paige that made me wonder."

Aria doesn't say anything for a moment, and Emily panics that she shouldn't have spoken to her about it. And it's true, Shana did speak to her and implied some stuff about just how _intimate_ she and Paige had gotten. Plus some other stuff, about how much _fun_ Paige is and how much of a laugh they have together and how well they get on. All the things just designed to push Emily's buttons.

"I'm sorry, Aria, I just thought it might be easier talking to you on your own. Hanna's been amazing about the whole 'gay thing', but last time we spoke about anything _intimate_, she just hi-jacked the whole conversation," Emily sighed in exasperation. Aria starts laughing,

"Yeah, I remember! Em? it's ok, but I really think the only person you can talk to about this is Paige." Emily sighs. "Em? Is it a deal-breaker if, you know, she _has_? You weren't together at the time."

"No, I know. And I had just 'friend-zoned' her."

"Yeah, plus, she had to stay on the sidelines all the time you and Maya were together." Aria says sympathetically placing her hand on Emily's and giving it a quick squeeze. "Look, do you think maybe Shana was just trying to push some buttons?"

Emily pushes her hair away from her face and sighs,

"Well, it worked."

"Look, if it's any help, me and the girls were talking about you and Paige and the whole Shana thing after Hanna saw them at the club."

Emily sighs in frustration, she really doesn't want to hear what Spencer has to say about her and Paige, they just seemed to be coming to an understanding of sorts. Emily loves her friends, she loves her family, she even loves Rosewood, but sometimes she just wants some time out, some time where her and Paige can just be together, without all the crazy in the world, to figure out what they can be to each other.

"Oh, great, I bet Spencer had some things to say about _that_!"

Aria smiles,

"You know, Spencer was actually the one who most rejected the idea of Paige cheating, she wouldn't hear of it at all, kept saying there must be another explanation," Aria holds Emily's eyes, "and there _was_. She and Paige are more alike than you think, you know."

Emily takes a moment to let that sink in. Waits a beat, then continues,

"Ok. But what about Shana?" Aria takes a moment to think, then shrugs,

"I don't know her. I don't know anything about her, but I'm guessing if she's still into Paige, and from what Hanna said that's a possibility, then, I would be inclined to be a little wary over what she says to you. She knows who you are, right?"

Emily nods, "yeah," and lets the comment sink in. Aria quickly checks her watch,

"Em? We should go if we're going to get to Spencer's on time. Look, you should just talk to Paige and I'm sure things will, um _develop_, if that's what's going to happen. Surely it doesn't matter if she has or hasn't?"

"Yeah, I know, but maybe, it may mean," Emily smiles, looks away and blushes again, luckily Aria seems to get the point,

"Oh, sure." She nods and grins, eyes widening for emphasis, "just in case you get the _opportunity_." Emily finally laughs. "Em, just _talk_ to her, ok?"

The next afternoon, and Paige rolls up to Emily's house on her bike. Leaning it against the side of Emily's porch, she mounts the steps, fiddling with her hair that's come loose from an already messy bun as she cycled over. She knocks the door, trying to control the grin that tugs at her lips at the prospect of an afternoon with Emily.

The door's opened by Emily's mum, who smiles in greeting,

"Hi, Paige, Emily just asked me to answer the door, she's just getting ready."

"Hi, Mrs Fields."

"Paige, please, I've told you, it's _Pam_, Mrs Fields makes me sound so old."

"Uh, no, not at all, but thanks, Pam." And Paige flashes her such a genuine smile that for a moment, Pam can see why Emily seems quite so smitten with this girl.

A couple of seconds later Emily bounds down the steps into the hallway, eyes all over Paige. She brushes past her mother and leans down to give Paige a quick kiss on the cheek. Pam Fields smiles at the girls and turns to go back inside.

Paige looks up at Emily, not speaking for a moment. Emily leans in towards her ear and whispers,

"Hey, that's a real breakthrough, you know. You and _Pam_."

Paige laughs and curls her fingers round Emily's giving them a squeeze.

"Ok, well, good." She smiles, "it's a good day, Em. What do you fancy doing?"

"I don't know, I'd like to go out for a walk, or something?"

"Well, if you want to go somewhere, I brought transport," she says, grinning and motioning her head towards the bike.

"Paige, I am _not_ riding shotgun on your damn bike. Again."

Paige pulls Emily down the doorstep onto her level until their bodies are flush against one another. At the sudden move, both girls catch their breath at the closeness of the other. Paige runs her hand over Emily's side and up towards her shoulder. She tugs her closer and whispers into her ear,

"You know, you can really hurt a girl's feelings." Emily laughs, pushing her playfully away,

"Come on, lets walk, I just want to spend some time with you."

Emily wants to talk to Paige privately, somehow, but without any suggestions, like a _bed_ in the way. She waits for Paige to catch up, then catches her hand, lacing their fingers together and she hears Paige's breath catch in her throat and she smiles, wondering how on earth anyone could doubt Paige when she's so transparent. Paige in turn looks down at their hands, linked together and smiles widely.

Paige is quiet this afternoon, not talking so much, listening to Emily, whose constant chatter is trying to belie her nerves. They walk on through the town, grabbing a couple of coffees to take away, until Emily stops them by a bench in the park. It's the bench furthest away from anyone, nearer the woods than the town, partially hidden away. She sits down and pulls Paige with her, turning slightly towards her, resting their linked hands on Paige's knee. Emily's talking about their latest swim meet, the form of the team, the possibility of scouts coming to watch them. Paige is taking it in, she always listens when Emily's talking, but she's playing with Emily's fingers, waiting for a natural break in the conversation. She's so tuned in to Emily that she's very aware there's something off about her today, a nervousness underlying their interactions. As it becomes fairly apparent that Emily isn't about to stop, Paige decides she has to break the tension.

"Emily?"

Emily stops what she's saying,

"Mhm?"

"What's going on? You're kind of _on_ one today?"

"What do you mean?" Emily is well-aware of what Paige means, but she's nervous, unsure where to start, she's just realised she's kind of scared about where this conversation could go.

"I don't know, but, you're worrying me." Emily finally looks at Paige for the first time this afternoon.

"Sorry, I don't mean to. I – I want to talk to you and I'm not sure where to start."

Emily feels Paige stiffen and tighten her grip on her hand. She needs to relax, she realises she's worrying Paige unnecessarily. She leans in and kisses Paige gently, her left hand touching the back of her neck. She pulls back and sees Paige still with her eyes closed. Paige opens her eyes and smiles,

"Ok, _that_ makes it better."

"Yeah?" Emily grins, still so close to Paige that she feels her breath across her lips as Paige exhales.

"Yeah."

Emily pulls back a little, dropping her hand from Paige's neck and resting it on her forearm. It's warm and the feeling calms Emily a little, she takes a deep breath and,

"Paige, I spoke to Shana the other day." Paige groans and drops her head dramatically to her chest.

"Aww, Em, not this again. I told you, I only spent time with her –"

"Yeah, 'cause you were _Batman-_ing, I know that." Paige cocks her head, smiling cutely,

"Um, is that even a _word_? Cause, you know, you could be spending too much time with Hanna."

Emily's glad of the break in tension and relaxes. She and Paige have been properly together a few months now and she's aware that she's building this whole scenario up in her head. She was thrown when she realised how jealous she was of Paige spending time with Shana and in some ways, for her, this is about bringing them closer than ever. She _wants_ Paige, she feels ready to take the next step with her, but she wants it to be about the both of them and she doesn't want to pressurise Paige.

Paige suddenly realises something and looks at Emily with a puzzled expression,

"Wait, you _spoke_ to Shana the other day? I didn't know you knew her." As she reads Emily's expression, Paige's eyes widen and she becomes more agitated, "Ok, what did she say?"

"Well, she implied, urgh," Emily sighs in frustration as she tries to find the right words. She grips Paige's hand more tightly, retains her light touch on her forearm. "Ok, Paige, please don't get mad, or upset. I'm just going to say what I need to say and then we can figure it out ok?"

Paige looks at Emily askance and then nods slowly. She's good at listening and picking through what people are saying, but she knows she can also react sometimes before she's really thought things through. But she loves Emily, and she's becoming more confident in the fact that Emily loves her, so, she agrees to let Emily speak.

"Shana implied that, you'd been, you know, _intimate_ together, and –" Paige blushes furiously and groans, unable to look Emily in the eye.

"Em, I don't know what she said, but – look – we - um – never - you know. She wanted to and before you came back, she'd been implying that we should, but, I don't know. You came back, you came over, you kissed me and, I guess I didn't have to think about it anymore."

"Did you want to?"

"Emily, please." Paige is practically squirming in embarrassment now. For all that she expected the conversation to be hard, she didn't expect it to go this way. But Emily was still looking at her, she'd managed to avoid answering the question when Emily asked it before, but this time there didn't seem to be any hope of that.

"Ok, _yes_. I did. I was seriously considering it. But," she shrugs.

Emily looks past Paige's shoulder, a little embarrassed and unable to look her in the eye. She runs her hand up Paige's arm and back down to gently take her other hand. She wanted to know, she asked the question and now she has the answer but she realises it's not quite the answer she wanted. A stab of jealousy, she wants to be the only one Paige looks at _like that_ and yet, she knows that's not fair.

They're quiet for a moment and then Paige chuckles,

"Ok, well, _that _was awkward." She gently shakes Emily's hand to pull her back to her attention. "Emily? Why do you need to know so badly? I know you and Maya slept together, it's not a deal-breaker, unless-." A beat. "Oh." Paige drops her head, her blush spreading,

Emily's head snaps back to look at her,

"What?"

"Um, are we talking about what I _think_ we're talking about, because - do you think I don't _want_ to? With you? Because, Emily, I _really, really_ do. But, we've never talked, or, you know, been in the situation and…Could you join in here, because I'm really struggling."

Emily laughs, pulls Paige towards her and kisses her – it's not soft, or gentle but it's full of how much she loves Paige and how much she cares about her and as her tongue brushes against Paige's lower lip, how much she _wants_ her. She pulls back and Paige is looking at her with _so much_ love and so much desire that she's not sure why she ever needed to question Paige in the first place, she leans back in towards her and kisses a spot at the side of her mouth gently before moving her lips close to Paige's ear. Paige's breath hitches and she closes her eyes,

"Yes, Paige, this _is_ what we're talking about."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Thanks so much for the lovely reviews and favourites. I never really intended to add further chapters to the first, but as you were all so kind I carried on. This is a chapter in response to a couple of requests. Not sure if it's good enough, or sexy enough, but I gave it a go, apologies if it's rubbish. I've got other Paige / Emily stuff written, they don't really belong in a long-length thing, more just snap-shots of how things are going with them, mostly reacting to the show etc. so perhaps I'll post those up.

Btw, I always intended that Paige would have slept with Shana, I kind of hope she did, but when I actually came to writing it (in the last chapter) I just couldn't bring myself to have her say, yes, it didn't seem to fit with _my_ Paige.

Aria grins, widening her eyes as Hanna just lets out a peal of laughter, shouts "Alright, superstar!" and offers Emily a high-five.

Emily looks around the school corridor a little embarrassed, checking to make sure Paige isn't in listening distance,

"Hanna," she sighed, smiling, "keep it down."

"Yeah, you won't be saying _that _tomorrow night," both Aria and Emily rolled their eyes, "or maybe you _will_?"

"I should never have told you, you're loving this just too much."

"So, Em, is Paige aware of the _big night_?" Hanna grins.

"Hanna, I swear to God, _please_ don't tease her about this."

"Don't worry, Em," Aria steps in, "I'll make sure and drag her away before she's able to open her big mouth. So how did you manage to sort out the room arrangements?"

Emily grins, pleased with herself and looks around her, conspiratorially,

"I just told Coach that as senior team-members, captain and the lead and anchor for the relay that we needed to make sure we got a good night's sleep and wouldn't be woken up by the other girls, with their sleep-overs or coming in late or anything."

Hanna nods, proudly,

"Way to go, I taught you well."

Emily and Aria look from one to the other, then at Hanna and shake their heads. Aria continues,

"So, Coach doesn't know you're a couple?"

Emily shrugs,

"I don't know. I kind of thought she did, but I guess not."

"Either that or she's as frustrated as hell like all of us that you and Paige haven't got your freak on yet."

A shout of "Hanna!" from both girls does nothing to wipe the self-satisfied smile off Hanna's face. But Emily's not mad, she's excited and a little scared too. She hasn't told Paige yet and needs to let her know. And she needs to find her before Hanna does.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go find Paige," she turns pointedly to Hanna, "without _you_ hanging around. I'll see you guys later."

So, she fires off a text arranging to meet Paige after school where they could walk over to Emily's shift at The Brew.

Paige listens as Emily tells her how easy it has been to sort out the room arrangements. She blushes and looks at the other side of the road, away from Emily's eyes. Emily smiles, gives her a moment, squeezing her hand which is linked with her own. Then, Emily stops, pulls Paige round to face her and shrugs her bag back over her shoulder.

"Pleased?"

Paige blushes again, touches the back of her neck with her free hand and slowly meets Emily's eyes,

"Wow, um, yeah, sure." She laughs, shyly, nervously, "Wow. I - don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. And Paige?" she makes sure Paige is properly looking at her, "we don't have to _do_ anything, if you don't want to."

Paige cocks her head and smiles,

"But _you_ want to, right?"

"Right." Emily whispers and Paige runs her free hand up Emily's arm pulling her into a hug, she turns her head so it's just below Emily's ear so Emily can feel her warm breath and she shivers at the feel,

"Me too."

So, two days later Emily is standing in Rosewood High School car park at 4 in the morning. She looks around, waiting for Paige and the bus that's going to take them to an out-of-state swim meet. Emily looks at her watch, looks around and shivers a little in the cool morning air - even the birds aren't up at this time.

For all her day-dreaming, Emily must have missed Paige's parents drive up, but she's aware of Paige's presence almost before she sees her. She grins, Paige looks exhausted, her big, brown eyes barely open, a beanie pulled down over her head, dressed in an oversized plaid shirt. Her overnight bag is small and slung over her right shoulder. Paige catches sight of Emily and suddenly her features light up in the biggest grin, her gait changes and she practically bounces over to where Emily is standing, planting a quick kiss on her lips.

"Hey," Paige smiles.

"Hi. How are you feeling?"

Paige does an over-exaggerated stagger and roll of her eyes,

"I'm exhausted," she moans, "how are you? And how can you look so perfect at this time of the morning?"

Emily blushes slightly and smiles happily at Paige, she bumps Paige's shoulder with her own,

"You don't look so bad yourself."

The bus pulls up and the swim-team slowly and tiredly make their way on. There's the usual scramble for the back-seats but Paige and Emily happily take a less-conspicuous seat in the middle of the bus, the other girls smiling and nodding their 'hellos' to them as they get settled.

As they drive off, Paige laces her fingers with Emily's and lightly strokes the back of her hand with her thumb, she's aware of the buzz and hum of the girls' talk all around her, the low-lights on the bus creating a cocoon around them. Emily settles her head on Paige's shoulder and leans into her as she drifts off to sleep. Paige feels it couldn't be more perfect if she tried.

The hotel room is compact, two single beds with bed-side lights on small tables stand in the middle. Paige feels a slight flush as she looks at the beds and swallows hard, hoping Emily hasn't noticed. It's late afternoon and they've been given the rest of the afternoon and the night off, as long as a strict curfew is followed but she's aware that some of the girls are planning a trip out and part of her really, _really_ wants to go with them. Paige is sorting out her things, unpacking her bag trying to give herself time to adjust to where she is, _what's been planned_ and she doesn't realise it but she must have groaned out loud at this, because suddenly Emily's looking at her, taking her hand and pulling her to sit down next to her on the bed closest to the window.

"Hey, Paige? You ok?" Emily says gently, smile tugging at her lips. Paige struggles to get back up, but Emily won't let her, instead she holds firmly onto her hand. Paige in turn uses her free hand to nervously fiddle with the hair at the back of her neck. She can't look at Emily.

"Mhm, yep, fine. Why?"

Emily smirks, she doesn't want to push Paige, but she has a feeling that she needs to be the one to make the first move. She's aware that Paige has been building this up since they had their talk and that this trip has become a big deal.

"Um, because you're putting stuff in drawers and folding and re-folding stuff, and Paige, I've seen your room – I thought you'd more likely turn your bag upside down and dump your stuff out of it."

She shifts further round until she can look Paige fully in the eye and finds her squirming underneath her gaze. She holds Paige's hand more firmly now, takes Paige's other hand gently from behind her neck and holds it lightly, running her hands over Paige's forearm.

"Ha, ha," Paige retorts, sarcastically, "I just want things _nice_."

"_Nice_?"

"Yeah."

"OK. Look, Paige, please don't be nervous. Nothing has to happen. We're in a hotel, away from our parents from everyone else and we can do whatever you want. We can go out with the girls if you like?"

Paige's head snaps up to look at Emily,

"Really?"

Emily sighs and can't help a little disappointment creep into her voice,

"Sure. If you like."

"Well, they did say they were going to check out the shopping and then later try and sneak into a bar or something. We could maybe go with them?"

"We could, yeah."

Paige has jumped all over this idea – it's a way out, a way to avoid, for the moment, the tension that's settled over the room, anything to take Emily's eyes off her. She manoeuvres her hands free from Emily's and walks over to the window, looking out over the car park.

"Hey, we have a great view, though," she says.

Emily sighs again, steps over to the window and laughs as she looks outside. She takes Paige's hand lightly in hers, notices she's trembling a little.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to push you. Let's go out, have a good night and then we'll be ready for the meet tomorrow." Emily leans forward and plants a kiss on Paige's forehead. "I love you, Paige."

Paige is aware of the disappointment in Emily's voice and she feels like such a fraud. All she's ever wanted is Emily. She's dreamed, for more years than she cares to remember about her, she's spent more nights than she cares to remember fantasising about Emily. But she's scared. Scared she'll lose it somehow, scared that she'll lose control so badly that it'll push Emily away. She feels Emily's gaze on her. Waits as Emily steps closer and slides her arms around her waist, kissing her below her ear, gently, softly, not pushing, just a kiss.

"Paige, we can just take it slow. We won't do anything you don't want to do. I know you're scared, I know how that feels. You don't think I'm nervous?"

"But you've, you know, _done it_."

"Yeah, maybe, but not with you. It's like my first time too." Paige breathes out a half-laugh, "Paige, I want you, but I don't want you to be uncomfortable, or upset. I need you to want this too."

Paige turns in Emily's arms until she's facing her and rests her arms around Emily's shoulders, hands meeting at the back of her neck and watches as Emily's breath hitches. 'She loves me', she thinks. Leaning in she kisses Emily, pushing into her with her body as the kiss becomes more urgent. Emily's hands, still at Paige's waist begin to move, to grab her back and pull Paige closer. She pulls at Paige's top and slides her hands underneath, feeling Paige shiver at her touch.

Emily pushes Paige around until she's flat against the wall and kisses and kisses her. She runs her tongue lightly over Paige's bottom lip, then pushes into her mouth, feeling Paige's tongue moving to meet hers. She can feel Paige's breathing change, feels her moan and hum into her mouth, feels her pressing her body back into hers.

Paige drops her hands, running her left hand over Emily's arm, the right finds her hip and she lightly moves her thumb over the exposed skin there. Emily moans and Paige feels a bolt of arousal shoot through her. Emily wants her, Emily loves her. She breaks the kiss, rests her forehead on Emily's and immediately Emily's eyes shoot open, checking how Paige is. Both are breathing heavily. Paige kisses Emily again, licking into her mouth, tasting her. One hand moves around from Emily's hip, under her shirt, moving slowly upwards, feeling Emily shiver. They've done this before, Paige is getting pretty good at unhooking Emily's bra, she smiles into the kiss as she feels Emily's breath hitch as the clasp comes undone.

Emily feels the smile, knows Paige is getting cocky now, decides to bring her down a peg or two. She moves her hands from under Paige's top, down on to the ass of her jeans and gently squeezes. Paige gasps, smiles, but she's getting into her swerve now and so she pulls away a little brings her hands down to the front of Emily's top and tugs it off and over her head in one swift move. Then pulls the straps of Emily's bra down her arms until she's able to discard it on the floor behind her. Emily smirks, looking down at Paige's still fully-clothed body,

"Smooth, McCullers."

Paige smiles self-satisfactorily then catches her breath as she looks at Emily, topless, beautiful. She swallows hard as Emily's hands hurriedly begin undoing the buttons on her plaid shirt. They kiss in between undressing Paige, until she too is standing half-naked in front of Emily. Hands wander over shoulders, down over breasts onto stomachs. Paige leans down to take Emily's left breast into her mouth, moving slowly, slowly over her neck, kissing along her clavicle, until she gently, gently teases Emily's nipple with her tongue, licking and sucking. Emily's head thrown back, smiling as she pulls Paige closer, running her hands over her back.

Paige stands tall again, looking Emily in the eye as she moves her hands down to Emily's belt. Emily breathes hard as she watches Paige's hands undo her belt, then her jeans' button and finally the zip. Emily notices Paige's breath hitch and then she lifts her eyes and holds Emily's. Paige begins to manoeuvre Emily's jeans down her legs. Emily pulls back a little, checks and as Paige almost imperceptibly nods, both break contact, take off and throw their jeans to the side. Paige takes a deep breath, steps forwards to Emily, who in turn presses her palms onto Paige's breasts and gently moves her thumbs over her nipples. Kissing again, Paige laughs and pushes some of Emily's hair away where it's caught between their mouths, bringing both hands up until they are gently holding Emily's face as she kisses her.

Emily pulls back and turns them both round gently pushing into her until Paige gets the idea and moves slowly backwards until the backs of her legs are pressing into the bed. They break off the kiss as Emily looks into Paige's eyes, there's no stopping once they make this move,

"Ok? You ok? You sure?"

"Emily? C'mere," Paige breaths into her mouth and pulls her onto the bed and Emily laughs and falls gently on top of Paige.

Paige's hands wander down until she's cupping Emily's ass, she squeezes and smiles as she feels Emily gasp at the touch. She kisses Emily again, brushes her tongue against Emily's and emboldened hooks her thumbs under Emily's underwear. Emily moans and Paige again feels herself growing wetter.

"Oh, God, Paige,"

Emily kneels up over Paige and begins to remove her underwear, Paige reaches down and pulls off her own, Emily moves herself so she has one leg between Paige's and she pushes up with her knee, smiling as she feels how wet Paige is. She bends down and presses light kisses along Paige's jaw-line, down her neck, over each breast, kissing, lightly nipping and sucking as she goes. She's leaning on her left arm and uses her right to hold her hair away from her face as she kisses lightly a line down from Paige's breasts, past her belly-button, down. She stops, pulls away and moves back up until she's hovering over Paige. Holding her gaze she moves her right hand so her hair falls as a curtain onto Paige's face, moves her hand down lightly grazing over Paige's skin until it dips into where Paige is wet. Paige gasps, "oh, fuck" lightly and bites down on her bottom lip, eyelids gently fluttering. Emily begins moving her hand, lightly stroking then applying more pressure on Paige's clit, moving the pad of her finger in small circles and Paige's breathing hitches and pants. Emily brings her lips to Paige's ear,

"Paige?"

"Uh?" Paige's eyes flicker open, Emily sees them clouded in desire,

"What do you like?"

"I – I, um." Paige swallows.

"Inside?" she whispers, moves her lips to Paige's as she briefly nods and Emily dips her finger lower and pushes into Paige, who moans more loudly this time, Emily moves gently to re-positions herself so she can bring her thumb up to continue to circle Paige's clit. She gently, slowly removes her finger as Paige bucks beneath her and then pushes inside again, this time with two fingers and she begins to move in a slow, teasing rhythm.

Paige gasps again, she's running her hands over Emily's back, short nails grazing trails all over. She moves her right hand around to stroke down Emily's stomach. All she wants now is to touch Emily, feel her. She moves her hand downwards until she too reaches Emily's wetness, pushing two fingers roughly into Emily whose breath catches and she moans into Paige's mouth. She moves, matching Emily's rhythm and it's the feel of Emily around her fingers that finally sends Paige over the edge, her breathing quickens, she bucks into Emily's hand until finally she relaxes, resting her head on Emily's shoulder, lightly kissing her.

"Ok?"

"Oh, yeah." Emily slowly removes her fingers from Paige and balances her weight so she's fully resting above Paige, Paige's fingers still deep within her and Emily shifts her hips, picking up a rhythm so Paige's fingers thrust more deeply into her. Paige stares up at her, a wicked grin on her face, she moves her free hand over Emily's stomach moving gently and up until her thumb is circling Emily's breast and then raises her head off the bed so she can lick and nip at Emily's shoulder, clavicle, tongues into the dip of her neck tasting the slight sheen of sweat that's settled there.

Emily begins to moan, moving more urgently on top of Paige, she brings herself down to kiss Paige sliding her tongue deep into Paige's mouth, licking upwards over her tongue, moves her mouth to Paige's ear, licking and tasting, movements becoming more urgent, more frantic until she falls over the edge, and as she comes whispers,

"I love you. So. Much."

As the shudders subside, Paige gently removes her fingers from Emily, who winces slightly. Emily rolls off her and snuggles into her side. Paige moves her arm so it's resting across Emily's shoulders. She hums and Emily laughs, looking into her eyes as Paige turns her head to look at her, cocky smirk all over her face.

"Hey."

"Hey. You know, I don't know what you were so worried about," Paige says,laughing and Emily lightly slaps her across her stomach.

"So, you still want to go out with the other girls?" Emily smiles, cocking an eyebrow. Paige chuckles and hugs Emily more tightly to her.

"Um, how about we give that a miss?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Paige moves her lips to Emily's ear and whispers "I can think of some other things we could do."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks again for reviews & follows. This is an added extra. I'm not sure if it ends here really, I'll wait and see if inspiration strikes to continue. Like I said, I have some other one-shots that I'll start posting up too. Enjoy.**

Emily wakes early, stretches and feels a little stiff, an ache in her limbs, a little soreness in her body, smiles. She glances over to the bed next to hers, where Paige is sleeping, turned away on her side facing the door. Emily's stomach dips and pulls as she looks at the nape of Paige's neck, wanting just to reach out and touch her, feels her heart twist. She turns so she's lying on her back, closes her eyes.

Yesterday they'd managed to shower, dress and get themselves down to dinner with the other girls; but, in truth, it felt like they were in a different time-zone, as if their movements were slower, their skin vital and glowing. Emily felt the others must have _known_ that something had changed between her and Paige, surely it was written on their bodies, in their smiles in the way they looked at one another. But no one seemed to notice. The girls talked about their shopping trip, about what they'd bought, where they'd been, who'd been eyed up by which guy. And Paige and Emily smiled and feigned interest enough so no questions were asked. But every now and then, they'd catch one another's eye, or their hands would brush and they'd lose their place in the conversation, or blush, or just simply, catch a breath.

After dinner, they'd managed to deflect the calls to go out, much to the delight of their Coach, who said what good role-models they were for the younger girls and it was only Lucy Minerva who'd caught Paige and Emily's eyes and given them a pointed stare and a smirk.

They'd made it upstairs to their room but were tugging off clothing before Paige even had the key in the door. They undressed, carelessly, kissing deeply, until, Paige smiling, kissing, leaned Emily against the wall by the door, running her hands up Emily's sides, ending with one buried deep in her hair. Emily moaned, bit down on Paige's lip as Paige's other hand trailed down her body, nudging her legs apart. Emily lifted her right leg around Paige's waist and Paige brought her free arm down to hold around Emily's back. She slowly, agonisingly teased with her fingers before she slowly, slowly pushed two fingers inside and smiled as Emily gasped and braced against her. She set up a slow rhythm until she felt Emily's breathing grow ragged and she moved her thumb up onto Emily's clit until she tensed, shaking and gasping, her standing leg buckled so Paige had to brace herself so Emily didn't fall. She carefully removed her fingers to hold Emily upright and was caught in a moment, so amazed, her fingers wet from Emily, holding her, breathing her, until she felt Emily's breathing settle,

"_God_, Paige."

Paige chuckled, still holding her tightly, close against her,

"I've dreamt about doing that for _so_ long. Emily, I can't believe how good it feels to be _inside _you."

Emily hummed a laugh against Paige's lips. She pushed back against Paige, taking control, whispered in her ear,

"Well, there's something _I've_ been dreaming about doing to you."

And Paige stumbled a little and blushed and Emily smiled and kissed her,

"Get on the bed, lie down so you're near the edge."

Paige swallowed and followed the instructions. Emily knelt in front of her, Paige propped up on her elbows watching as Emily parted her legs and dragged her fingers slowly over Paige's stomach. Paige groaned and lay back on the bed, her right hand fisting into the bed-covers, Emily taking her left in her own hand as she began kissing her way up Paige's thighs. She lightly ran her tongue over Paige's clit, slowly tasting as Paige began moaning and twitching above her, hips thrusting, so Emily had to bring her left hand across Paige's hips to hold her. She moved slowly, licking and sucking until she felt Paige bucking and moaning, back arching.

Emily kissed her way up Paige's body, tongued around her nipples until she sighed into Paige's mouth, a sloppy, messy kiss.

They spent the rest of the night laughing, exploring, touching, kissing, fucking and talking until at some time around one, maybe two o'clock it seemed like the whole world had been shrunk down to their little hotel room, their little bed, the air they were breathing as they lay, their breath mingling. It was more than Emily had hoped for, more than she'd ever felt, nothing could touch her, she was with Paige, really _with_ her no one else around, no one else needed – enough, still, stopped, peaceful.

At some point, they'd drifted off to sleep, a tangle of limbs and breath. At some point, Emily turned to the window with Paige pressed close against her. At some point, she was aware that Paige had fallen out of bed, a whispered curse, a mumbled "gonnasleepintheotherbed" and Emily had smiled, turned over and slept again.

Emily doesn't need to be awake this early, it's just her usual wake-up time but there's no early-morning practice today, just a mid-morning pre-meet, warm-up. But she's very aware of her body, as if Paige's exploration of it last night has awakened it. She hears Paige shift and sigh and it goes straight through Emily's body, she feels herself getting wet. She wants to feel Paige, to touch her so she carefully sits up and moves to Paige's bed, lifting the covers. Paige shifts again in her sleep to give her room and Emily cuddles close behind, kissing Paige's shoulder. She runs her hand over Paige's stomach and rests it there, feels Paige tense, relax. She moves her hand upwards, trailing her fingernails until she reaches a breast and moves her hand so she can run her thumb over Paige's nipples. She feels Paige moan and shift.

Emily chuckles, kisses her back a few more times, slowly, lazily, drifts off again.

**XXXXX**

Waking two hours later, Emily is aware of Paige's breathing and opens her eyes to see her turned towards her, watching her. Paige smiles, eyes full of love and wonder,

"Hey, beautiful." Emily clears her throat, arching an eyebrow,

"Morning." She stretches again, feeling the soreness in her body. Paige grins, whispers,

"I can't believe you're here. I can't believe I just get to touch you whenever I want."

It's like she's talking to a saint, all reverence and prayers. She runs her hand over Emily's stomach and Emily takes a ragged breath in, skin fluttering at Paige's touch. Feels her heart contract. Watches Paige watching her as she runs her hand up from her stomach over her right breast, onto her left, circling her nipple, fingers gentle, soft, kind. Watches Paige grin as she sees Emily's breathing hitch and grow erratic. Paige runs her hand upwards, then along the length of Emily's collarbone, as if she's learning Emily's body. Emily stretches again and shifts away from the insistence of Paige's hand.

"Paige? We have to get up."

Paige pouts, leans in to kiss her, gently, softly whispers,

"Must we?"

"Yes." Paige starts to move her hand again, lower, lower, until Emily laughs, grabs it and holds it tight, "Paige we have to. We've got to shower, get breakfast –" Paige interrupts her with a kiss, laughing,

"Don't need breakfast." She slips her tongue into Emily's mouth. Emily's body is betraying her, she can't help responding, moans into Paige, finally manages to get two hands in between them, she pushes on Paige's shoulders,

"We DO. We have a meet tonight, training this mor- oh God, Paige," as Paige moves her lips from Emily's down to her shoulder where she nips and sucks gently, running her tongue up Emily's neck. Emily shoves her away again.

"PAIGE! Please." She quickly sits up, pulling the sheets round her, trying to speak with authority, but feeling no dignity as Paige smirks at her, "Please, Paige. We have to."

"Em, I don't care about the breakfast or the training or the meet."

"Paige, you do. You know this meet is important for both of us. There are going to be scouts from all over the country there. It's the only damn reason my mum let me come."

"Don't care about colleges, or scouts." Paige is half serious, sure college is important, but Emily is all she's ever wanted, all she's ever needed. This, right here, surely this is enough? This is important? This is the only thing that matters. Her and Emily. But Emily looks kind of serious now so Paige nods her head,

"Ok, but you _owe me_ now."

Emily leans down, pushing her hair back, playfully asks into Paige's mouth,

"Oh, so I _owe_ you now, do I?"

"Mmhm."

Paige stays in bed, lying on her back, hands behind her head listening as Emily steps into the bathroom, reverie suddenly broken by,

"PAIGE! Oh my God!"

Paige rushes over into the bathroom, pausing at the door as she sees what's upset Emily, Paige is trying not to laugh but it's hard,

"_Oh-ho, my God_!" she says, slowly. She's in trouble.

At the top of Emily's left breast is a huge hickey, bite marks clear. Paige's eyes grow wider and wider, she looks at Emily.

"Wha- when, um, sorry." She comes up behind Emily who's inspecting herself in the mirror, she catches her round the waist and kisses below her ear, "I'm _so_ sorry."

"Paige! This is above my swimsuit!"

"Oh my God. No, no, it's not. I don't think – oh shit."

Unfortunately for her, Paige is finding this whole situation funny, she kisses Emily's neck to try and hide her smile, but her body's shaking. Emily untangles herself from Paige's arms,

"I'm going to kill you." Paige cocks her head,

"Hey, that's not what you said last night."

"Not helping, Paige."

"No. Sorry. Um, perhaps we can put some make-up on it?"

"Paige." Emily's voice is low, angry.

"Sorry, sorry. Um. I don't know, can we say you fell over?"

"And hit my _boob_?"

"Yeah. No. Not good."

"Paige." A warning.

"Ok, right, look. Let's get your swimsuit and then we can see and we can worry about whether it is or isn't above it when we see. If – it's – above – or, yeah, ok."

Emily glares at her as she brushes past.

But the hickey is just on the line of her suit. A little bit of bruising visible, but only if you stare. Paige breathes a sigh of relief, her day would have been hell otherwise.

The meet comes and goes with no major incidents. Paige and Emily win their races comfortably, then the relay, captain and anchor congratulated by the Coach and then the team; Emily faltering slightly when she hears Lucy Minerva whisper in her ear something about 'bruising', but she's able to brush it away when Paige catches her round the waist and spins her in a victory dance. Scouts are talked to, meetings mentioned, phone calls to parents made.

Emily's tired, bone tired, happy tired. She's lying on Paige's bare, sweat-sheen stomach, as Paige sprawls on the bed behind her, playing with her hair. Paige is talking, not about much, not about anything special, just telling stories. Stories of them and what they can be. Emily's listening, she's thinking that this is one of those special moment, those ones that you take and put somewhere safe to be looked at again and again. And as Paige talks, Emily wonders if it _can _be so simple. As simple as this. As simple as them, together, just _being_, in a room.


End file.
